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Elon Musk Says, Trump's Agenda Bill Undermines DOGE Mission; Arson Investigator Testifying in Sean Diddy Combs Trial; U.S. Embassy Ordered to Pause Student Visa Appointments. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 28, 2025 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, scaling back and speaking out. Elon Musk now says he's quote, disappointed with President Trump's legislative agenda, the so-called big beautiful bill.

Plus, presidential pardon power meets reality television stars. Todd and Julie Chrisley went from small screen fame to federal inmates to now the latest recipients of presidential pardons.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is on assignment. And you're in The Situation Room.

We begin this morning with Elon Musk's disappointment as the tech billionaire is stepping away from politics. He's not shying away from commenting on his work with DOGE and President Trump's sweeping tax and spending cuts package. Despite spending almost $300 million to help get Trump and GOP congressional candidates elected last year, Musk now makes it clear he's no fan of President Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill.

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ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: I was like disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it. And our minds, the work that the DOGE team is doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually thought that when this big, beautiful bill came along, everything he's done on DOGE gets wiped out in the first year.

MUSK: I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful, but I don't know if it could be both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now here in The Situation Room, CNN Anchor and Chief Domestic Correspondent Phil Mattingly. Phil, his comments could put him at very serious odds with the president. PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it quite literally does put him at odds with the president. Obviously, the president and the White House pushing very hard to get this cornerstone of their legislative agenda, not just through the House, which they narrowly did last week, but also through the Senate. And it underscores that it's a very, very delicate moment for what is the central piece of legislation, not just for the president's border and defense policies, but also, of course, for his tax cuts reauthorization and the cornerstone of his economic plans.

I think what this underscores is Musk now out of the White House, at least on a regular basis, is reverting back a little bit to where he was before. He entered the White House, remember, Wolf in the spending bill at the end of the last year, his opposition almost derailed that continuing resolution. He got crosswise with the administration on the immigration issues as well. He mostly kept his personal opinions to himself on bigger policy issues for the last three or four months. Now that he's out, it's kind of stepping away a little bit, seems that he's weighing back in.

That's problematic for two reasons. One, he still has a significant amount of influence, obviously spent nearly $300 million to help elect President Trump in 2024, has spent a lot of money on other Republican candidates as well. But more, importantly, it's the issues that he was pointing out, which is the issue of the deficit, which, Wolf, as you know better than anybody, in the Senate, is particularly problematic, where senators like Ron Johnson and Rand Paul are saying the House bill, even though they got it across the finish line, simply does not cut enough given where deficits and debts are right now.

BLITZER: Yes. We'll see what happens in the Senate. That will be critical indeed. What else did Elon Musk say about DOGE and its mission?

MATTINGLY: What's fascinating about this is Musk, I think, was in a very reflective moment. He is done a number of interviews over the course of the last 24 hours is kind of returns fulltime to Tesla, to SpaceX, saying basically he's back to the sleep in the manufacturing plant, work 24/7 on his company, something investors very much like. If you look over the course of the last couple of days, Tesla stock has shot up.

But he also underscored the difficulty that DOGE faced in its opening months. We all saw the kind of move fast and break stuff theory of the case that they brought into the government. But Musk saying that DOGE was basically becoming a whipping boy for everything at one point, saying they were getting blamed for things that they weren't actually involved in.

One thing I would note, though, Wolf, and this is important for people to understand, there's this kind of broad perception that because Musk is leaving, DOGE's mission is over, or what DOGE is actually working on in the government is no longer happening. That's not the case. We've reported about how really they've been integrated, DOGE officials have been integrated throughout the federal government and they've risen higher and higher in terms of their political positions that they hold.

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They're still very much in effect. And Musk makes that point in some of these interviews, including with The Washington Post, saying that they're maybe going to have smaller ambitions, but they're still very much in place and they're still very focused on a mission.

BLITZER: All right. Phil Mattingly, thank you very, very much.

And coming up another major disappointment for Elon Musk when his SpaceX Starship loses control during its third test flight this year. We'll have details.

And happening now, an arson investigator is testifying in the Sean Diddy Combs sex trafficking trial in New York. He's one of four witnesses expected to take the stand today. Yesterday, we heard explosive testimony from the music mogul's former employee, Capricorn Clark. She told the jury that Combs threatened to kill rapper Kid Cudi after learning he was dating his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Let's go live right now to CNN Anchor and Chief Legal Analyst Laura Coates. She's just outside the courthouse in New York City. Laura, what do we know about today's testimony?

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well here we are. It's barely 10:00 in the morning and we've already heard from at least one of the four witnesses, a second one on the stand today, Wolf. We have already heard from an L.A. police officer who said he responded to the scene for trespassing at Kid Cudi's home where he was alleged to have entered the facility after knowing that Cassie Ventura and Kid Cudi had been involved. This officer testified that he actually pursued an Escalade that went up the hill and had the plates ran back to Bad Boy Enterprises and Entertainment.

So, we know that there is a corroboration now about who may have been in that vehicle, although the windows did not reveal who was inside at that point, didn't pursue further because he said there was no crime having been committed at that moment in time. He also said that he was not including in his report any mention of a gun was not told about a gun, but that Kid Cudi was very flustered.

Now, we're listening to an LAPD arson investigator -- LAFD, excuse me, arson investigator. Remember, in order to prove RICO this racketeering crime, you have to prove what's called predicate crimes that happened in a pattern in a closed amount of time. Arson is one area that could serve as a predicate crime if they're able to link that crime as a pattern with others back to an enterprise that is surrounding Sean Diddy Combs, the prosecutor will have moved the needle.

BLITZER: All right. Laura Coates reporting for us. Laura, we will stay in close touch with you. And please make sure to tune in later tonight to Laura's show, Laura Coates Live, airs every weeknight 11:00 P.M. Eastern, right here on CNN. And we're getting new details right now about the latest move by the Trump administration impacting international students here in the United States. CNN has learned the State Department is now instructing all embassies and consulates around the world to pause new student visa appointments in order to expand, quote, social media screening and vetting for all applicants. The move is further blindsiding international students, including those at Harvard University who now face a very uncertain future.

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ABDULLAH SHAHID SIAL, PAKISTANI STUDENT, CO-PRESIDENT, HARVARD UNDERGRADUATE ASSOCIATION: I haven't had the time yet to think about my backup plans, but as of now, I don't think anyone is sure if they can return for their fall semester back into Harvard and more broadly back into the U.S.

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BLITZER: All right. Let's go live right now to CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood. She's over at the State Department for us. Kylie, what more do we know about this latest move by the Trump administration?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. This was a memo sent yesterday signed off on by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, ordering all embassies and consulates around the world to put a halt on any new student visa appointments while the department is developing new guidance to bolster social media vetting.

Now, as far as this cable says, all of the appointments for those student visas that are already scheduled don't have to be canceled, but there are concerns about the possibility of future appointments not actually happening soon, concerns about that impacting student enrollment in the fall.

I spoke with one immigration lawyer about this who said, quote, now is exactly when students would be applying for visas to start school in August. The timing is no accident. This is designed to significantly damage student enrollment in the fall and hurt the many universities that rely on these students.

Now, we should also note that in this memo, the department also said that they're expected to issue this new guidance in the coming days. So, this halt could very well be short-lived, but we don't know when that guidance is actually going to come. We also don't know what that guidance is going to look like.

As far as we know now, applicants for visas to the United States do have to provide their social media identifiers, but what that bolstered social media vetting actually looks like, and if it extends the amount of time that it'll take to receive that visa, that remains an open question.

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Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Kylie Atwood of the State Department for us, Kylie, thank you very much.

Still ahead, we're following breaking news. The Israeli Prime Minister says that de facto leader of Hamas is dead. What we're learning, we will update you. That's coming up.

And later, convicted of defrauding banks out of more than $30 million, a reality T.V. couple will soon be out of prison thanks to President Trump.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: All right. There's more breaking news coming into the situation room right now. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says Mohammed Sinwar is dead. Sinwar was the de facto leader of Hamas. He's the brother of the former leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the Israeli military in Southern Gaza back in October.

Let's go live right now to CNN Correspondent Paula Hancocks. She's joining us from Abu Dhabi. Paula, what more are you learning?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this came during a speech to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, the Israeli prime minister saying that he has in fact been killed. This is the de facto leader, as you say, just a week ago, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that probably Mohammed Sinwar had been killed, but that word probably is now missing from his vernacular.

Now, it was two weeks ago that the attack took place, the IDF targeting a massive set of strikes against the European Hospital in Khan Younis, and this is where he was believed to have been killed. We heard from the Ministry of Defense there were also at least two dozen Palestinians killed in that particular strike and about 50 injured.

But this is in keeping with what we have seen from Israel. They have said that all of the leadership is a target. They have made a number of assassinations of the Hamas leadership. In fact, in this speech we heard from the prime minister saying, we have changed the face of the Middle East. We have eliminated, he said, tens of thousands of terrorists, and also went through the list of the leaders that they have assassinated, Deif, Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, of course, the brother, as you mentioned there, who was considered the mastermind of the October 6th attacks against Israel, assassinated in October last year. His brother, Mohammed Sinwar took over, and now Israel say they have killed him as well. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Paula Hancocks with the latest, thank you very, very much. Also happening now, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Germany shoring up support from Berlin for his country's fight against Russia. The German chancellor says he and Zelenskyy have agreed to the joint production of long range missiles inside Ukraine. The Kremlin previously said, allowing Ukraine to use those weapons against Russia is, quote, dangerous. All this comes as Ukraine says it struck Russian drone facilities right near Moscow.

Let's go live right now to CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen. He is joining us from Berlin. Fred, are the Europeans going to step in and give Ukraine more arms, the arms that Ukraine says it desperately needs?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly seems as though, Wolf, that the Europeans are stepping up as the Trump administration might be scaling back things, if you will. At least so far, the Germans announcing a pretty large support package actually for the Ukrainians, not all that in military aid, some other aid as well of about 5 billion Euros. So, that is certainly significant. And a lot of that is that combined arms production that we were just talking about.

It was quite interesting because many had thought that the Germans were going to announce that they were going to give longer range cruise missiles called the Taurus to the Ukrainians. That was not announced today. Instead, this combined arms production for what the Germans call longer range weapons.

Now, there's some interesting points that we picked up from the German Chancellor of Friedrich Merz, who spoke about this. And later, the defense ministry came out and said that the first batch of these weapons would already be with the Ukrainian military in a matter of weeks, that no additional training was necessary, and that before the end of the year, the Ukrainians would have a significant number of these weapons.

So, it certainly seems as though the Germans and the Ukrainians combined looking to scale up the production of these arms very quickly, the Germans also announcing there's going to be new munitions packages for the Ukrainians as well, as the Ukrainians, Wolf, also trying to take that longer distance combat to the Russians. One of the things that happened overnight in Russia is that the Ukrainians say that they targeted several drone-producing facilities in the area around Moscow.

Of course, one thing that we have seen a lot of over the past couple of days is very large, sustained drone attacks by the Russians against Ukrainian cities. So, certainly, it seems as though overnight the Ukrainians are saying that they have now struck back and it seems as though they might be doing a lot more of that if these aid packages from the Germans and that combined weapons production really matures the way that both Zelenskyy and Friedrich Merz said earlier today. Wolf?

BLITZER: It certainly looks like this war is about to heat up big time. Fred Pleitgen in Berlin for us, thank you very much.

Let's discuss this and more with retired U.S. Four Star Army General Stanley McChrystal. He's the former commander of all U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the author of a brand new book, there you see the cover, On Character, Choices That Define a Life.

Ukraine's allies, General McChrystal, as you well know -- and thank you for writing this important book.

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It's really got a lot of insight into what's going on. How -- the removing of these restrictions on the allies, the pro-Ukrainian allies, like Germany, for example, they removed all these restrictions allowing Ukraine's military to now target Russian sites, Russian military sites, and other sites inside Moscow, including right near -- inside Russia, including right near Moscow. What do you make of this?

GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, Wolf, it seems they're trying to do is raise the cost for Russia and for Putin in particular to continue the fight. And so by giving Ukraine the weapons that they feel they need to actually strike inside Russia effectively and whenever they need to. I think it increases the likelihood that Russia at some point hits a point where the cost isn't worth it.

BLITZER: And just to be precise, until now, the European allies told the Ukrainians you can have these weapons but use them against Russian targets who are moving in Ukraine, but you can't target sites inside Russia itself out of fear that that would really escalate this war.

MCCHRYSTAL: And U.S. aid over the years has also been limited with restrictions and what we would give. There was an argument at one point that we were giving Ukraine enough not to lose, but not enough to actually win, and this could be moving closer to giving them the ability to actually defend their country.

BLITZER: Russia has openly threatened, as you probably know for a long time, that lifting these restrictions on long range weapons would mean war with NATO, from their point, Russian war with NATO allies. How much credibility do you put on that threat?

MCCHRYSTAL: I personally don't put a lot on that threat. I think that Russia is a greater threat to NATO long-term, in fact, if they succeed in Ukraine. So, it will cost less and be less risky for NATO to stand up to Putin now.

BLITZER: Do you think they will?

MCCHRYSTAL: I think that they will. I am hopeful that the United States will step in the line with them.

BLITZER: And support Ukraine fully and let them try to win this war and prevent Russia taking over all of Ukraine.

MCCHRYSTAL: And partner with our NATO allies so that we have an unbroken line.

BLITZER: I want to turn to Israel and the war in Gaza that's going on. Israel now says, as you heard, they've killed the de facto leader of Hamas, Mohammed Sinwar, in a recent Gaza strike. How significant is that and how might that change the prospects for a potential ceasefire and the release of all hostages?

MCCHRYSTAL: We used to have a saying of going after terrorist leaders with Al-Qaeda or Al-Qaeda in Iraq, that it was necessary to go after them, but it was insufficient to actually achieve an end. And a decapitation strategy of going after the current leader of an organization is seductive. But my experience is it's not decisive. You're going to have to go after both the full structure but also the causes.

If you really want to fight a counterterrorist fight, you need to go to why people are doing what they're doing, you need to address those.

BLITZER: Yes. Well, let's see what the impact of this is going to be. I don't know if you heard, but the former Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is blasting Israel's political and military leadership. In a brand new interview with CNN, he said he can no longer defend Israel's military actions, and he's pointing to the 11-week blockade of humanitarian aid and the soaring number of Palestinians killed and asks, and I'm quoting him now, what is it if not a war crime? And he goes on to say, Prime Minister Netanyahu's government is, quote, committing actions, which can't be interpreted any other way.

How significant are these comments from a former Israeli prime minister?

MCCHRYSTAL: They're significant and they're also predictable. If you look at the history of insurgencies or terrorist groups, their entire strategy is based on getting their opponents to overreact. Look after 9/11, we overreacted in the region and we paid a big price for it over time. And so I think that Israel, that's essentially what the October 7th attacks were designed to do to get Israel to overreact and, predictably, it feels like they have. And, of course, over time, that carries a cost.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens on that front. I want to talk a little bit about your excellent new book, On Character, Choices That Define a Life. It's a very deep and personal exploration of what character means to you. How did your long military career shape your character and the person you are today?

MCCHRYSTAL: Well, you get the opportunity to watch people make very difficult decisions. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong. And it wasn't based on decision-making expertise. It was based on what's inside them, the core values. And you learn that you trusted people based upon the character that they exhibited over time, and you sometimes trusted them with your life.

And so I think we've let character erode in the United States. We're embarrassed to talk about it. And I would urge all of us to talk about it in our families, in our churches, in our schools, everywhere, so that it gets front and center.

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BLITZER: Because this book is very personal. You're write about a lot of personal experiences that you had working your way up to becoming a four star U.S. Army general.

MCCHRYSTAL: Personal, like when my son, when I was still an Army officer, had a mohawk that he dyed different colors. And so those things that really are the fabric of life, your big disappointments, your big -- my big failures, they all set me on a course that hopefully made me think more.

BLITZER: What do you hope readers will take away from this important book?

MCCHRYSTAL: I'm hoping leaders will not look for any answers. I don't think I have any in there. What I think I have is a bunch of pretty good questions that I ask myself. And I would ask every reader to ask themselves those in similar questions. Look at their own character. And then let's just decide what do we want our national character to be cumulatively. What do we as Americans want to be as a people? How do we want to be to other people?

BLITZER: Yes. It's a very important book. Thank you once again for writing it. General McChrystal, I appreciate it very much.

And the new book is entitled, On Character, Choices That Define a Life, worth reading, to be sure. General, thank you very, very much and thank you for your service over many, many years. We're grateful to you.

And coming up a third time was not the charm for Starship test flights in 2025. Another spacecraft lost on reentry. So, what's next for Elon Musk's mission to Mars? We'll ask an expert after the break.

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